Impeller for electric automotive fuel pump

The present invention relates to automotive fuel pumps, and, more particularly, to a regenerative turbine type rotary pumping element or impeller with vane partitions radially shorter than the vane.

Regenerative turbine fuel pumps for automobiles typically operate by having a rotary pumping element, for example an impeller, fitted to a motor shaft within a pump housing. The pump housing is formed of two halves, including a pump cover and a pump bottom, which cooperate to form a pumping chamber around the outer circumference of the impeller. Vanes on an outer circumference of the impeller pump fuel as the shaft rotates and primary vortices are formed within the pumping chamber. The shape of the primary vortices, which effects pumping efficiency, is partially determined by the shape of vane grooves and partitions formed between individual vanes. Conventional electric automotive fuel pumps employ regenerative turbine impellers having vanes separated by partitions of the same height. FIG. 5 shows such an impeller 100 having vanes 102 and partitions 104 separating vane grooves 106 . Partitions 104 extend so that they are flush with vanes 102 . As the impeller rotates, vortices 108 rotate in pumping chamber 110 and are routed by partitions 104 toward pumping chamber top 110 ′, and abruptly changing direction by 90°, resulting in pumping losses and decreased pump efficiency.

Several U.S Patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,062 (Wright), U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,367 (Yoshida), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,910 (Watanabe, et al.), disclose pump impellers having fluid active surfaces with curved root portions and radial linear partitions which extend outwardly so as to be flush with the impeller outer periphery. These impellers are similar to that shown in FIG. 5 and have the same drawbacks as discussed above.

Gaseous regenerative turbine type impellers having rectangular blades between which are located shortened, arcuately shaped fluid reactive surfaces which cause fluid to move radially out from the impeller periphery are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,674 (Schonwald), U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,865 (Mugele), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,208 (Schonwald). The impellers in these disclosures do not have, however, the advantageous partition portion of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,475 describes an impeller having a partition wall which is shorter than the radial length of the impeller vanes. The impeller includes a pair of axially opposed vane grooves formed on the partition wall. The vane grooves gradually approach each other, thereby forming vortices on either side of the partition wall which merge radially outside the partition wall. My U.S. Pat., No. 5,409,357, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a partition wall which has a parallel portion to form a “dead zone” radially outward of the partition wall and thereby prevent the vortices on either side of the partition wall from merging. The present invention seeks to provide an impeller with a partition wall which similarly forms a “dead zone” and promotes a desired motion of the fluid in the vortices.

The present invention provides a fuel pump for supplying fuel to an automotive engine from a fuel tank, with the fuel pump comprising a pump housing, a motor mounted within the housing and having a shaft extending therefrom, and a casing for a rotary pumping element, such as an impeller. The casing has a pump bottom mounted within the pump housing with a bore through which the shaft extends, along with a bottom channel portion of an annular pumping chamber having a fuel outlet at an end thereof. An impeller is fitted to the shaft and has a plurality of spaced-apart, radially outwardly extending vanes around an outer circumference of the impeller with a plurality of partitions interposed therebetween.

The partitions do not extend radially outward as far as the vanes, and, preferably, extend approximately half the radial distance from the radially innermost point of the vanes to the radially outermost point of the vanes. The partitions are comprised of an arcuate portion having axially diverging walls at the radially outermost portion thereof and having a flat top with rounded corners. The arcuate portions are substantially quarter-circle shaped surfaces beginning at a radial innermost root portion of the partitions and extending beyond 90 degrees to diverge at the radially outermost portion. Thus, the partitions and vanes define a plurality of fluid active, arcuately shaped vane grooves which cause fuel to move outwardly from the impeller. A pump cover, which has a cover channel portion of an annular pumping chamber with a pump inlet, is mounted on an end of the housing and is attached to the pump bottom with the impeller therebetween such that the pump cover and pump bottom cooperate to form a complete pumping chamber for the impeller.

In the preferred embodiment, the partitions have sides diverging from a plane perpendicular to the shaft extending axially at least approximately 0.01 millimeters from the axially narrowest portion of the arcuate shaped portions. The impeller is preferably symmetrical about a plane through the impeller and perpendicular to the shaft, and is injection molded of a phenolic plastic composite material. The fuel pump may be mounted within the fuel tank of the automobile. In an alternative embodiment, the impeller has a ring portion around an outer circumference thereof connected to the plurality of vanes such that a plurality of axially extending passages are formed between the vanes, the partitions, and the ring portion.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a fuel pump having a rotary pumping element with radially shorter vane partitions relative to the vanes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fuel pump having substantially quarter-circle shaped impeller grooves extending over 90 degrees to better form fuel vortices within a pumping chamber surrounding the rotary pumping element.

A further object is to provide a fuel pump rotary pumping element with diverging projections from the quarter-circle grooves in the pumping element to stabilize vortices flow and reduce pumping losses.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a fuel pump according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 2 — 2 of FIG. 1 showing a rotary pumping element according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line 3 — 3 of the rotary pumping element of FIG. 2 showing a pumping vane with vane grooves separated by a radially shortened partition.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of a rotary pumping element according to the present invention showing a vane separating partition comprised of arcuate shaped sections having diverging portions radially shorter than the vane.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a prior art impeller within a pumping chamber showing a partition circumferentially flush with the vane and separating the vane grooves.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an impeller according to the present invention showing a radially shortened vane partition optimally shaping vortices within the pumping chamber.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view along line 2 — 2 of FIG. 1 showing a rotary pump according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention showing a radially outer ring portion connected to the pumping element vanes.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view along line 8 — 8 of FIG. 7 showing a rotary pumping element according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention showing a pumping vane with vane grooves separated by a shortened partition and having an radially outer circumferential ring portion.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an impeller according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention showing a circumferential ring portion and a radially shortened vane partition to better shape vortices within the pumping chamber.

Referring now to FIG. 1, fuel pump 10 has housing 12 for containing its inner components. Motor 14 , preferably an electric motor, is mounted within motor space 16 for rotating shaft 18 extending therefrom toward fuel inlet 19 at the left of fuel pump 10 in FIG. 1. A rotary pumping element, preferably an impeller 20 , is fitted on shaft 18 and encased within pump bottom 22 and pump cover 24 . Impeller 20 has a central axis which is coincident with the axis of shaft 18 . Shaft 18 passes through a shaft opening 26 in pump bottom 22 , through impeller 20 , into cover recess 28 , and abuts thrust button 30 . Shaft 18 is journalled within bearing 32 . Pump bottom 22 has a fuel outlet 34 leading from a pumping chamber 36 formed along the periphery of impeller 20 by an annular cover channel 38 of pump cover 24 and an annular bottom channel 40 of pump bottom 22 . Pressurized fuel is discharged through fuel outlet 34 to motor space 16 and cools motor 14 while passing over it to pump outlet 42 at an end of pump 10 axially opposite fuel inlet 44 .

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of impeller 20 along line 2 — 2 of FIG. 1 . Vanes 50 extend radially outward from outer circumference 52 of impeller face 54 . Partitions 56 , which circumferentially separate vanes 50 and are interposed therebetween, extend outwardly from outer circumference 52 a radially shorted distance than vanes 50 . Bore 58 is formed so that impeller 20 can be slip fit to shaft 16 . FIG. 3 is a side view of impeller 20 along line 3 — 3 of FIG. 2 . Impeller 20 is preferably symmetrical about axis 59 which is perpendicular to shaft 16 and has an outer diameter of between 35 millimeters and 40 millimeters, preferably approximately 38 millimeters.

A detailed partial cross-sectional view of an outer circumferential portion of impeller 50 through a partition 56 is shown in FIG. 4 . Vane 20 , which preferably is rectangular shaped, adjoins partition 56 . Alternatively, vanes 50 are arcuate or any other shape known to one skilled in the art. Partition 56 comprises arcuate shaped sections 60 on either side of straight section 62 which extends radially outward from arcuate shaped sections 60 and which is radially shorter than vane 50 . Straight section 62 preferably has flat top 66 approximately parallel with the radially outermost edge 68 of vane 50 . Flat top 66 also has rounded corners 67 . Arcuate sections 60 begin at outer circumference 52 of impeller face 54 and preferably are substantially quarter-circle shaped, extending over 90 degrees, thereby forming a diverging portion 70 . The diverging portion 70 extends from the axially narrowest portion of the partition 56 axially outwardly as indicated in FIG. 4 by the distance “m”. In a preferred embodiment, the distance “m” is between 0.01 and 0.8 mm, but one skilled in the art appreciates this distance will vary based on the size of the impeller and pumping chamber, as well as the radius of curvature of the grooves 64 . Preferably the minimum thickness of the partition wall (the axially narrowest portion of the partition wall) is between 0.2 and 1.0 mm.

In an alternative embodiment, the straight section 62 has parallel sides which extend a distance L radially outward from arcuate sections 60 , as seen in FIG. 4 of my ' 357 patent, the diverging portion provided radially outward from the parallel portion. Preferably, parallel distance L is between approximately 0.1 millimeters and 0.5 millimeters. Because the parallel sides are described in detail in the '357 patent, it is not illustrated here.

Partition 56 preferably extends approximately half the distance between outer circumference 52 of impeller face 54 and outermost edge 68 of vane 50 . Vane grooves 64 are thus axially separated by partition 56 .

FIG. 6 shows an impeller 20 as just described situated within pump cover 24 and pump bottom 22 . As impeller 20 rotates, vortices 72 are formed in annular cover channel 38 and annular bottom channel 40 of pumping chamber 36 . Since shortened straight portion 62 of impeller 20 increases the distance between partition 56 and pumping chamber upper wall 36 a , it is believed that the angular acceleration of vortices 72 near annular cover channel 38 and annular bottom channel 40 is reduced, as is the size of low-velocity zones (eddy currents, or secondary vortices) near vane outer circumference 68 of impeller 20 . Further, the diverging portion 70 improves the rotational flow of the primary vortices 72 . Studies have shown that with the impeller 20 design described above, pump 10 efficiency increases nearly 10% or more. The greatest improvement is realized with a thicker partition 56 , where the axially narrowest portion of the partition 56 is at least about 0.3 mm. In a preferred embodiment, the ratio between the axial thickness of the narrow portion of the partition wall to the thickness at the diverging end is in a range of 0.2 to 1.0.

In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 7, impeller 20 has a ring portion 76 around an outer circumference 52 thereof connected to vanes 50 . FIG. 8 shows a side view of the alternative embodiment of impeller 20 along line 8 — 8 of FIG. 7 . Ring portion 76 fits snugly within pumping chamber 36 , as seen in FIG. 9, so that pump bottom 22 does not require a stripper portion (not shown), as is required in conventional fuel pumps employing regenerative turbine type impellers. A plurality of axially extending passages 78 are formed between vanes 50 , partitions 56 , and ring portion 76 . The top of the partition wall 56 shown in FIG. 9 is illustrated with an arcuate top 66 ′ (i.e. convex), versus the straight portion illustrated in FIG. 4 . The arcuate top 66 ′ is blended to the curved grooves 64 with a radius to improve the vortex flows.

The impeller 20 is preferably injection molded out of a plastic material, such as phenolic, acetyl or other plastic or non-plastic materials known to those skilled in the art and suggested by this disclosure. Alternatively, impeller 20 can be die cast in aluminum or steel.

Fuel pump 10 can be mounted within the fuel tank (not shown) or, alternatively, can be mounted in-line.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed, various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.